


In my defense, the forecast called for sun

by orphan_account



Series: deliciously difficult (damerey fic) [2]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AND THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED!, F/M, Snowed In, blame the Damerey discord for this, ski resort AU, utterly ridiculous fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21983296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Nestled in the remote mountain town of Hoth, Echo Base Ski Resort is known among thrill-seeking skiiers for two things: its world-class courses, and its completely unpredictable weather.Two of its employees - Olympic hopeful Rey and Poe Dameron, ex-ski jumper and Rey's partner on safety patrol - are about to get a taste of the latter. (And maybe learn a few more things along the way.)
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Series: deliciously difficult (damerey fic) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583491
Comments: 31
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MASD_1138](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MASD_1138/gifts), [damerey_knows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/damerey_knows/gifts).



> My family is on a ski trip right now and at some point my lizard brain decided that "Damerey ski resort AU" was a thing that needed to exist. Then the Damerey discord chat decided it actually needed to be written, and helped me turn that premise into an actual plot (WE LOVE BED SHARING), and here we are. Almost all of this is entirely invented for the convenience of the plot and much of it is super unrealistic but I mean...who reads fanfic for the realism, right? *nervously sweats*
> 
> (Also, I have no idea if this is a realistic description of how a snowstorm works, since I'm from SoCal and have only seen snow about six or seven times in my entire life, but it is Convenient for the Plot, so I'm just gonna leave it like that.) 
> 
> Dedicated two two of my lovely friends from the Discord who all but begged me to put this up. :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Convenient snowstorms are convenient.

"I'm never going to get sick of this," Rey murmurs to herself.

She closes her eyes - she can do without that gorgeous panorama of the lake, rimmed by snow-dusted pines, for a few seconds - and breathes deeply, inhaling the chilly mountain air. It's been two and a half years since she packed her bags after her high school graduation and made for Colorado, and two months since the Echo Base Ski Resort opened for the Winter and her third season working there began, but Rey still can't help but feel small when she reaches the top of her favorite run. It's...spectacular. Beats the Arizona desert where she grew up - and the Flagstaff resort where she'd trained until she came here - by a landslide (avalanche?) for sure. 

"We're supposed to be making sure the day camp kids don't ski off the side of the mountain, Sunshine." A familiar voice interrupts the moment, and she groans. Leave it to Poe - fearless leader of Echo Base's safety patrol crew - to break the illusion. "The view can wait." 

"Right, sorry." Rey shakes her head, but she knows she has a job to do, so she snaps her boots back onto her snowboard and starts down the mountain after Poe. It's a December weekday and though some schools are already out for break, not enough out-of-town schools have yet gone on break to draw crowds, so the resort is relatively empty. Virtually their only task on this slope - one of the easiest Echo Base offers - is to make sure that a group of local kids enrolled in half-day ski lessons make it down the mountain safely for their final run of the day. She wonders if she can't squeeze a little practice in on the way down - it's no slopestyle course, but practice is practice, especially during the competitive season, when her time is split between training and work. _Maybe not,_ she decides, checking her watch - it's getting near to closing time. 

So for now, she races down the mountain, making sure she's just _barely_ going slow enough to keep an eye on the kids she's supposed to be watching. It's not often that she gets a chance to do this (well...except that time she talked Poe into racing her down a Black Diamond on their break, something she's sure he regretted but that she thoroughly enjoyed) and she revels in it - the wind at her back, a fresh dusting of powder from last night's snow beneath her feet. It's a gorgeous day to be out on the slopes, though a blanket of clouds is beginning to roll in. 

"Showoff," Poe teases as he finally catches up to Rey and slides to a stop on his skis. (Their ongoing argument about whose sport of choice is superior is fierce.) "You do realize you're on the clock, right?" 

Rey rolls her eyes fondly. He nags - maybe to keep up appearances, maybe in jest - but she knows he'd do exactly the same if an old injury didn't threaten to flare up if he tried. "I _was_ watching them, Poe. I can't help that none of them looked like they needed rescuing."

"Fair enough." Poe shrugs. The kids they're supervising have fallen far behind, so they stop to let them catch up. (And besides, he hasn't had an excuse to chat with Rey in a while. She's witty and opinionated and fun, and he enjoys her company - so he'll gladly take this chance to catch up.) "How's training?" 

"Pretty good. Beats Flagstaff, at least," Rey says wryly. "Snow's amazing up here." 

"I still can't wrap my head around the fact that they have snowboarding in Arizona-" 

"Hey, we have mountains, too!" Rey protests playfully, wondering why she feels the need to continue this pointless argument. "Besides, didn't you learn to ski jump into a _pool?"_

"That's what everyone does, Rey." Poe shakes his head; it's undeniably a _you're-gonna-have-to-try-harder_ gesture, and Rey is up to his challenge. 

"I've seen the videos, you know," she teases. "Good stuff, Flyboy." 

"Don't call me that," he mutters to himself, half-smiling and half-...regretful? Maybe even a little hurt? Rey can't figure it out. Whatever it is, it deflates her teasing mood in an instant. 

She feels as if she's gotten to know her partner pretty well in the months that they've worked together. They know each other's habits and how they ended up here; she could name his favorite movies and retell the stories of his high school years that he's regaled her with, and he could rattle off a list of snowboarders she admires and (this one always, inexplicably, makes his stomach turn) her high school boyfriends, along with the reasons she dumped them all. They're...close, all things considered, and Rey feels like she gets him, but that thinly-veiled sadness when he mentions his past is the one thing about Poe Dameron that she simply cannot make sense of. She just can't understand why someone with so much potential as an athlete (she couldn't help but know precisely _how_ promising - she'd done her research, though she'd never admit it) would give up the sport he clearly loved in the prime of his career. He'd been a much talked-about ski jumper as a teenager, until the day he'd up and retired at sixteen. _S_ _ixteen -_ if Rey had had the chance to make a push for the top of her sport at that age...

But she's never asked him. It doesn't quite seem right to ask him why he'd left it all behind, retreating to a tiny ski resort hundreds of miles from his childhood home - not when there's always an undertone of sadness blanketing his replies when someone mentions Poe's ski-jumping career. So she sticks to-

"Rey? You in there?" 

"Sorry, what?" Poe's voice draws her back into reality. "Didn't catch that." 

"Rey."

"Sorry, sorry! I know! Now...what did you say?" 

"I was going to ask if you noticed that the weather's been weird today," he repeated, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Forecast said it would be sunny, but it's starting to cloud over." 

"Yeah, it _has_ gotten pretty dark," Rey agrees, starting back down the mountain when the day camp group comes back into view. "That can't be good." 

Arizona may not exactly be Colorado, but mountains are mountains, and she's well aware that mountain weather can turn from perfect to downright nasty almost without warning. 

"Well, we're about to close up, anyway. Should be-oh. Okay, then." Poe holds out his hand, a few flurries landing in his open palm. "That wasn't-" 

"In the forecast?" Rey shakes her head. "You should know by now not to trust the Weather Channel, Poe. When is it _ever_ right?" 

"Let's just get these kids down the mountain," Poe huffs, trying to ignore the growing knot of unease in his stomach. The snow's already heavy enough to _look_ like snow, and it's only been falling for a minute or two. By the time they make it to the lockers at the bottom of the mountain where they store their gear, it's coming down hard, and they have to raise their voices to be heard over the wind.

"There's no way I'm driving back into town in this," Rey shouts, pulling her coat close around her in a vain effort to keep out the biting cold. "You know those employee cabins out by Lift Five? I'm gonna try to get to one of those." 

Poe can't help but think that she's surprisingly nonchalant about the idea of being trapped at work overnight, but he has to admit that it's a better plan than his (which approximately consisted of "try to drive back and pray your car doesn't go off the road"). "Good idea. Mind if I crash?" 

"You know, I wanna say no," Rey says, and he can't quite tell if she's teasing, "but I really don't want you to freeze to death, so sure." 

They trek past the outlines of familiar landmarks, reduced to silhouettes by the ever-shrinking visibility, and both let out long sighs of relief when they reach the first of the cabins. Its porch awning providing a small refuge from the snow relentlessly blowing in their eyes. 

Echo Base was far too small a resort to provide offsite apartments to employees the way major ski resorts did, and in this moment, that was its saving grace. Cabins in the woods weren't anyone's idea of adequate housing, but they were convenient at a time like this. Rey slammed the door behind them as they walked in, letting the cabin's welcome warmth thaw their freezing extremities. The employee cabin was rudimentary at best - one room held a sparse kitchenette and a tiny living room with a fireplace and a couch so worn it's barely standing, but little else; the other held a bedroom and bathroom. But it was vacant (Rey happened to know that its previous inhabitant had quit her job a few weeks back), and warm, and it's enough to keep them from freezing to death or trying to drive in this weather. 

Almost immediately, Poe begins opening kitchen cabinets, clucking in disapproval when he finds them all totally empty of food. 

"What'd you expect, Flyboy? No one lives here," Rey says, digging through her backpack. "I have a few protein bars in here, and a water bottle. We're gonna have to make that work overnight." 

"Tell my family I love them," he mutters, flopping into an armchair. If the awkwardness of a night snowed in with an (admittedly) beautiful (and off-limits) girl who probably thinks nothing of him doesn't do him in, the lack of food definitely will. 

"Hey, we'll be okay." She tries to smile reassuringly, but she's not all that pleased with the arrangement either. 

"No cell signal," Poe observes. "Well, that's just great." 

"Honestly, what were you expecting? Whiteout conditions will do that." Rey walks to the other room, setting her bag down on the bed and removing her soaked outer layer of clothes. Left shivering in her thermal shirt and yoga pants when she's taken off her heavy coat and ski pants, she cranks up the thermostat. "Also, how okay are you with sleeping on the couch?"

"Fine, unless you want-" 

"Why would I be asking you that if I wanted the couch?" Rey sighs, wondering why she replied at all. She's got a feeling it's related to with the fact that something about her coworker always has her raring for an argument, but at this point, it seems like a waste of energy, and she wonders why she bothers. _(Not what I was getting at,_ Poe can't help but think, and then mentally smacks himself for even suggesting it.)

"Then your wish is my command, Sunshine." Rey rolls her eyes and throws one of her protein bars at him, smirking as it not-so-accidentally smacks his forehead. He glares - _oh, so you want a fight? -_ but Rey doesn't give him the privilege of engaging with her (as fun as that might be...), silently refilling her empty water bottle at the tap. 

Then the stream of water from the tap stops, and Rey moves the spigot back and forth to no avail, and-

"Uh, Rey?" Poe asks, evidently trying the same with the on switch of the small lamp that had been their only light source. It's such a small light that Rey initially doesn't realize that it's shut off, but she glances around and sees the clock on the oven flicker off, and when she opens the refrigerator to check, its light is off too. 

"Did we just-" 

"Lose power?" 

They glance at each other across the room, now almost dark as dusk falls and the snowstorm rages on. 

"We just lost power." 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which candles are extremely convenient.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *writing fanfic*  
> Me: *gets distracted by research*  
> Me: *now knows what bones ski jumpers most commonly break in accidents*  
> #winning  
> (This is super dialogue-heavy...oops.)

Under any other circumstances, this probably would have been romantic. 

Rey's got a flashlight in her bag ("what? It's a perfectly reasonable thing for a safety officer to have!" she'd insisted), and they'd used it to hunt through the cabinets for anything that could be of use. And apparently, improbably, the last inhabitant of the cabin left _candles_ , of all things, in a tiny hallway closet. So they've set them up in strategic locations for lighting, and the tiny cabin is awash in candlelight. 

But candlelight takes on an entirely new meaning when it's the only thing standing between the two of them and a pitch-dark night in an unheated cabin with no food or running water. 

"Can't believe I've never asked you this, but what brought you here from Arizona?" Poe asks after a few awkward moments of nothing to do but watch Rey eat a protein bar. (Besides, he's wanted to ask about her life before Echo Base for...well, at least two years now, and it's only now seemed worth the risk.) 

"It's Arizona and I'm a snowboarder, Poe. What do you think?" she asks, hoping the dim candlelight conceals the flush in her cheeks. ( _He's wondered about me?)_

"Well, yeah, but...it's not like this is exactly a common place to train. And no one goes this far from home, where they're this hard to reach, for no reason."

Rey sighs. _Got that right._ "I was a foster kid until I was six, when my grandfather adopted me, but that was even worse than bouncing around from home to home. So as soon as I graduated from high school, I was out of there."

"...oh." Poe feels a little (a lot) ashamed of himself for prying now. "I'm sorry." 

"Well, it worked out." Rey shrugs, tucking her feet under her and clutching a worn throw pillow to her chest. "I got to know my grandfather's neighbors, this family who had season passes to that ski resort in Flagstaff. They'd go up all the time, and the knew how bad things were at home, so sometimes they took me with them. I tried snowboarding on one of those trips when I was eight, and I was...sold." She smiled to herself. "They'd let me use their passes and equipment on the weekends, and somewhere along the line I realized I was pretty good at it. I'd been pretty much entirely self-taught, but when the local paper ran a story on a competition that I'd won, this coach reached out to me, and I started training with him. It was expensive, but my grandfather liked the idea of having a famous grandkid - well, _famous_ is an overstatement, but people knew who I was - so he put up with it." Rey huffed. "Only good thing he ever did for me. I won enough things to be sponsored around my junior year of high school, so I wasn't dependent on him to train anymore, and as soon as I graduated...gone." 

"Oh. Wow." Poe doesn't quite know what to say to that. He can't decide what he regrets more: asking something so personal or waiting so long to ask something that's obviously so important to her. 

"So that's my life story. What about yours?" Rey asks. "Why ski jumping?" 

"Oh. Uh...I guess it kinda just happened. Both my parents were competitive skiers when they were younger - dad was cross country, mom was a ski jumper - so they pretty much put me in skis as soon as I could walk. I took to ski jumping, like my mom. The two of us almost gave my dad multiple heart attacks, but we never thought much of it." He laughs mirthlessly. "Then my mother died in a training crash. I was twelve." 

"Oh." Now it's Rey's turn to feel guilty. "Is...is that why you stopped?" 

"No, not really," Poe sighs. "I kept competing until I was sixteen. I was never really scared that what happened to her would happen to me, weirdly enough. It was a freak accident. I knew that. But that was before I broke my hip." He grimaces, as if the pain is still fresh. "And my leg. And four ribs-"

"How are you even still walking?" Rey interrupts him, agape.

"Eh, none of it was really all that bad. Yeah, it hurt, but it wasn't...debilitating after it healed. I probably could've skiied again, but I realized when I woke up in the OR after getting six screws put in my leg that I didn't even _want_ to." 

"PTSD or something like that?" Rey asks. That made more sense than she'd expected.

"Something like that," Poe replies. "So I retired. I got this job - it was part-time back then - the next winter, and I've been here ever since. Went to college, which I never thought I'd do back when I was competing." 

"Is there something else you want to do?" Rey asks. "What was your degree in?"

"Aerospace engineering. This job's paying my way through my Master's degree, but it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life. 

"Oh." Rey doesn't even want to know why she's so disappointed to hear that. "I guess I haven't thought much about my future after snowboarding. I've been so focused on making the Olympic team in a few years that...everything else kinda falls away. But...what are you thinking of doing after your Master's?" 

"Oh, I don't know." Poe wants to think her asking this question means more than it probably does, but he shoves that thought to the back of his mind. "Get a job, obviously. Move wherever there's a job opportunity. Maybe settle down with someone if I get the chance."

"Oh, do you have a girlfriend?" Rey blurts out, almost immediately flushing beet-red. _Smooth, Rey, smooth._ "I mean, I guess I just thought that..."

Poe chuckles. "Nope. The social scene isn't exactly fantastic up here." 

"Oh." Rey tries to ignore the little buzz of excitement in her brain at that information. "I don't either. I mean, have a boyfriend." 

"Really?" Poe seems genuinely surprised. "No hot French snowboarder you keep bumping into at your competitions and-" 

"No, I prefer skiiers." 

_Wait. What? I do?_

Rey isn't even sure why she said that because as far as she knows she's never even _thought_ it before and maybe it's just the circumstances and candlelight but -

Oh.

_Oh._

_She totally does._

Poe smirks. "Oh, so you _do_ recognize the superiority of-"

"I'm going to sleep," Rey huffs, stomping off to the bedroom if only to get away from him. It's freezing, and those covers might be her best shot at staying warm, and what with this incredibly irritating realization she's had-

"Rey, it's not even seven yet," Poe calls after her. 

Realizing that she has no convincing excuse to get away from him, Rey grudgingly circles back to the couch and pointedly doesn't look at Poe as she sits down. She's shivering slightly, which doesn't escape Poe's notice. 

"Here," he says, unzipping his jacket and gently draping it around her shoulders. "You cold?" 

"Thanks," she says, her cheeks heating up in spite of the chill. "It's freezing in here." 

"Yeah. About that." Poe clears his throat. _Please don't let her take this the wrong way..._ "um. It's cold, and we kind of need to not freeze to death, so me sleeping on the couch might not be the best idea tonight." 

Rey bolts upright, suddenly all too aware of the warmth of the jacket around her shoulders. "Are you suggesting-"

"Uh. In the interest of, um...conserving body heat...we should probably share the bed." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You knew it was coming...;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sharing a bed is the quickest way to make the truth come out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *frantically googles best heat-conserving sleep positions*
> 
> Tonally, this is all over the place, but I like it much more than the last two chapters. So...yay?

Rey doesn't want to look at Poe as she settles into their shared bed, his coat (warm and roomy and the kind of comforting that makes her wish she could keep forever) still draped around her shoulders. "I...think back-to-back would be the best way to keep warm," she says, still not meeting his eyes. It seems like the most businesslike arrangement for their purposes, and she really doesn't need the week or so of awkward silences that will inevitably result if she doesn't keep this strictly pragmatic. As much as she might have wanted to snuggle into his side, rest her head against his chest-

_Rey. Stop it._

"Sounds fine," Poe replies, and they settle in, backs touching, hyperaware of every point of contact. Rey, feeling a little bolder than usual, drapes his jacket over the both of them; he pushes it back to her side. 

"You're colder than I am. Keep it," he says, turning and tucking the corner of the quilt under her to keep out the frigid air. Her heart seizes at the gesture - she's not used to gentleness, to that kind of concern. Her heart melts a little as he settles back in beside her. 

"Thanks," she murmurs, trying to drift off but unable to quiet her mind. She was largely raised without affection like this - her grandfather had been cold and distant, sometimes even cruel. He was always far too busy obsessing over his climb up the corporate ladder to care much for the granddaughter whose only purpose in his eyes was to bring him glory, and the thought of him seeing to her needs with half the tenderness or care that Poe has over and over rings absurd. And she's had allies - her neighbors, friends at school - but never this kind of intimate, personal affection.

It's foreign. And absolutely disarming. 

* * *

Poe can't help but think that this snowstorm was a gift. 

He's not felt this close to someone in years. Friendship, let alone love, was never exactly a priority in his years of training, and though he's always been close to his father - was even closer to his mother - he's been essentially on his own since college. It's what drew him to Rey in the first place; she's alone most of the time, too, but in the company of her colleagues, she lights up. Though he nicknamed her Sunshine long before he began to fall for her - she's always brought warmth to a room, to a _life_ \- it's even more fitting now. 

Rey doesn't realize that she's one of about four people in the world that he could truthfully claim to love. She'd probably quirk an eyebrow in confusion at a statement like that - he's pretty sure she'd classify them as "work friends" at best, "acquaintances" at worst. But she matters to him, and snuggled up to her in the cold (something that only ever would have happened by accident), he wishes he could tell her that. 

He wonders if she's lonely, too; if she might be looking for something to give all her pent-up affection to. Wonders if it could ever be him. 

* * *

When Rey awakes, at least half of her limbs are colder than they've ever been on the slopes, and yet...she's _warm._ She lifts her head ever so slightly to look around, the effort almost too much in the cold, and _then_ she remembers where she is, and the blood rushes to her face. _Right. Snowstorm. Only one bed. Poe..._

_Oh, right. About that._

She'd been fastidious in her attempt to conserve heat _and_ a decent relationship with her coworker, but that has evidently not lasted. She wakes to find herself flat on her back in the middle of the bed, both of Poe's arms wrapped loosely around her stomach, and his cheek resting against her chest. She feels her face heat up in spite of the cold and she briefly considers moving him...but he's _warm,_ and that takes precedence right now. Besides, _he_ is the one curled around _her,_ so at least it won't look like she'd initiated...whatever this was. (She'd wanted to, certainly, but she doubts it's the right time to tell him that.) She stays still, trying to go back to sleep. 

(Given the fact that her best work friend/maybe-kinda-definitely covert crush who's recently been Doing Things To Her Heart is _sleeping on her,_ that's not as simple as she thought it should be.) 

"Not gonna lie, Sunshine, this is _definitely_ more effective than that back-to-back thing we were doing." 

Rey startles. She hadn't noticed Poe stir. "You're awake?" 

"No, I just randomly make coherent observations about our sleeping arrangements in my sleep." He shifts, leaning against the pillows so he can meet her eyes, and for a moment he looks down at the sheets, almost shy. But he snaps out of it after a moment, and looks up at her with...what looks suspiciously like happiness. _Happiness_ _?_ She'd been expecting awkward apologies, frantic attempts to get as far away from her as possible - but no, he seems _pleased._

(She still can't pretend she doesn't miss the warmth of his arms around her, but...)

"Are you okay with this?" Rey asks clumsily, her face burning. "I just thought it might be less awkward if we-" 

"Awkward?" Poe's expression turns bemused. "Why would this be _awkward_?" 

"Um." _Well, that did not go the way I expected it to._ "Because...you're kind of...cuddling me?" 

"And I'm supposed to be upset about that? Wait." Poe's face falls. "Are _you_ upset about that?" 

"Um. Not necessarily. I mean, no!" Rey hadn't thought it was possible for her already-flushed face to turn any redder, but here she was proving herself wrong. "This is...nice. Warm. I don't mind it! But I thought-" 

"That I'd be embarrassed?" Poe finishes, and Rey nods mutely, desperately wishing that a convenient sinkhole might appear and swallow her up. _Well, there's no getting around this one. Might as well just get it out._

"It's just that...I like you, Poe. And I'm pretty sure you don't like _me,_ and-" 

"You...do?" 

"Did I stutter, Dameron? _Did I?"_ Rey snaps, face hot, unsure how else to respond ( _really, Rey? "Did I stutter?")._

Poe's expression softens. _As if I needed further evidence that she's the most adorable being on this planet._ "Have I ever mentioned that I've wanted to kiss you since you beat me down the Black Diamond last November and may or may not have almost asked you out, like, six times but never did because I was pretty sure you'd say no?" 

"You did?" 

"Yeah, I did." 

They let that sink in for a moment. 

"So, uh." Poe clears his throat. "Now that we've established that we both, uh, like each other."

"Yes?" Rey asks, her stomach fluttering at the way he says that so... _bluntly._ As if that's the natural order of things. 

"There's this terrible snowboarding movie out that's got, like, 9% on Rotten Tomatoes, so...wanna go see it and make fun of how inaccurate it is?" 

"Are you really using the fact that we're snowed-in with the power off as an excuse to ask me out, Flyboy?" 

"Um. That depends on whether or not you were gonna say yes." Poe bites his lip nervously, and Rey feels a slight need to go dunk her face in the snow because that tiny gesture has absolutely _no_ right to be this attractive-

"Of course, Poe." She grins. "Even if you are...immensely difficult." 

"Difficult? How am I _difficult?"_ he protests. 

"You say you've wanted to ask me out for over a year and it took a _snowstorm_ and _accidental cuddling_ to make you do it when it was _obvious_ that I was into you-" 

"Hey, I never said I was good at this." Poe brushes a lock of hair that's fallen in Rey's eyes behind her ear. (Her heart leaps - there's that tenderness again, the tiny gestures that make her feel so _certain_ of what she feels.) "Never had a girlfriend, and I have, like, four friends, and one of them's you, so..." 

"You _could_ have had a girlfriend, like, two years ago if you'd ever admitted that, you know," Rey teases. "So yes. Difficult." 

_(Deliciously difficult,_ she wants to add, but she doesn't even want to _think_ about how he'd respond to that.) 

"Are you _flirting_ with me, Sunshine?" Poe asks, sounding a little shaky beneath his teasing tone. 

"Yeah, but...are you alright?" she replies, noting his tone with concern. 

"Slightly overwhelmed," he admits, "but in a good way. The best way." 

"I mean, same, but..." Rey trails off, nervousness and joy fighting for control of her (currently rather strange) expression. "This is good, right?"

"Very." Poe nods solemnly. "Um. Question." 

"Yes?" Rey quirks an eyebrow (exactly how he'd imagined she would, for the opposite reason, in the best way). 

"Do you wanna kiss now?" 

And then the dam breaks, and Rey is laughing, and soon she's so consumed with it, the accidental humor of the whole thing hitting her head-on, that she can barely breathe. And it's not long before Poe is laughing too, not even fully knowing why. It just...feels right. 

When she regains her composure, she replies, "yes. That was a yes. You just...have a funny way of asking." 

Rey sits up, her back too straight (he just _has_ to smile at her alertness), and he follows, and cups her chin and tries to be gentle as his lips meet hers, worrying that she might be nervous. But she's...enthusiastic, in a word. And he's fine with enthusiastic. Enthusiastic is great-

"You're good at that," he comments when she pulls away, maybe a little bit awed. She grins. 

"I have a feeling that's my new favorite thing." 

Outside, the wind is quiet, and the world is new. 

(In the sappiest recesses of his mind, Poe observes that the fresh coating of powder coating every wasn't the only new thing that snowstorm had created, but he doesn't mention it. There's no need for poetic musings when the way Rey's looking at him is poetry written on her face.) 


End file.
